Dangers of Strut spacers

[Ben80]

I'm not a fan of strut spacers but I have seen quite a few broken stuts on 120 prados and hiluxes, every single one of them caused by failed bottom bushing and none fitted with spacers. send all that shock through such a small area and something will give.

[Blackie2008]

I'll count myself lucky then.. I was running strut spaces for a while and did some reasonably hard wheeling (pipe line and the lost city @lithgow was probably the hardest) never had a drama though.

[Jfk90]

hey guys, this will be my first post.
I have a 2011 sr5 dual cab, it had a 2" lift thanks to old man emu with set of 265/70r17 but being young and dumb wanted bigger tyres and more lift.
ive recently added 1.5" strut spacers which has given me a 4" lift with the truck sitting level, ive since fitted 285/70r17 ATZ mickey thompsons add extended ball joints to sort my alignment issues and a diff drop down kit to keep the cvs happy.
final thing I want is the monster truck stance I have 305/60r17 ( 33x12.5x17 ) ready to be fitted but have the chassis clearance issue, ive been looking at wheel spacers?
any suggestions or information I should be concerned about?

[horoshobudet]

hi Jfk. 'm not a great technician, but sure your CV's wont live long (even with ddKit - the inches are easily counted=)).
could you share links of extended ball joints & ddKit you've installed?
I met these


and also this )
've already written them some q's (about steel grades and so on), waiting for reply.
Myself installed recently almost homemade progressive springs on tufdogs (stock coil springs ran about 15ooo km with spacers).
made in Russia))

[Jfk90]

I got my ddkit from superior engineering.com and the extended ball joints bare cheapest from ebay,
the cvs seem to be back to factory level, if I have any dramas I can get custom extended cv joints.

[bennybannister]

Hi guys this is my first post, I'm wanting to put strut spacers in my 2010 hilux, can anyone tell me how big spacers I need for it to lift my ute 3 inches, and we're can I get them from ? Cheers

[Derchie]

Hey JFK< can the other guys correct me if i'm wrong! But the diff drop kits you get from superior or anywhere else on EBay etc,are a waste of money!

To my knowledge! and i could be wrong, i thought they only drop one side of the diff! Thus twisting it.

I think MR are the only company that drops the diff in the level position

[StevenS]

Hey JFK< can the other guys correct me if i'm wrong! But the diff drop kits you get from superior or anywhere else on EBay etc,are a waste of money!

To my knowledge! and i could be wrong, i thought they only drop one side of the diff! Thus twisting it.

I think MR are the only company that drops the diff in the level position

correct, they only space down the diff. So much that a 1 inch spacer kit only gives you about half an inch improvement in CV angles.

I know a proper diff drop sort of like the MR brackets are included in the ultimate suspension smart lift kit. Don't know of any others.

[Sydney]

Reckon this was caused by the strut spacer ?

[boxhead55]

YEP!

[mattwhite]

Na bh, you're wrong. A few guys have not had trouble, so it can't be.

[Rocket55]

It's human nature to believe "it won't happen to me, because I ...." but it does

[Sydney]

Just friggin dangerous cheap crap

[Strongy2008hilux]

Looking at extending my bumpstops running a 35mm spacer with standard shocks/springs. Whats the easiest way of doing it? Cheers guys!

[packeteer]

washers is the usual way. but you may not have enough thread

the MR bumpstops might be suitable??

[swhilux]

Maybe you've missed the point here.
1. Illegal. On an accident your insurer will not pay up.
2. Dangerous. But it's up to you.
3. Tight ass lift kit, you get what you pay for.
But by all means go for it

[mattwhite]

I'd never do it. But we are all free to make informed decisions.

[packeteer]

ebay or supior engineering

ps. dont do it!

[swhilux]

I was going to before I joined this forum and then started researching them. Seemed like such a cheap and easy way to lift her up. Not a chance for me. Doesn't take long to save for an Ultimate 2"lift or equivalent

[VMN]

Geez, it is amazing to see a thread I started 4 years ago is still going AND guys are still fitting spacers or wanting to know how to fix problems that arise when they are fitted. Everything about suspension mods is a compromise, but some compromises are worse than others!

The Hilux is so much better understood today years after Hilux Max, Monster Rides and a few others including myself pushed the limits and explored what could be done.

Yes struts without spacers fail too but usually that is as a result of failed bushes which collapses the available travel and also causes bottoming out we have discussed on this thread. I reread the whole thread tonight, others might consider doing the same. There are other well priced alternatives to strut spacers that give you an upgrade path, do it safely or not at all!